Rational design of polyaniline/MnO2/carbon cloth ternary hybrids as electrodes for supercapacitors

Abstract

Two types of ternary composites were fabricated by reversing the deposition sequence of polyaniline (PANI) and MnO₂ layers on plasma treated carbon cloth (m-CC), i.e., PANI@MnO₂@m-CC and MnO₂@PANI@m-CC. By comparison, PANI@MnO₂@m-CC displayed a unique porous structure and possessed a better electrochemical performance than that of MnO₂@PANI@m-CC. The morphological transformation of MnO₂ petals into nanoparticles while anchoring PANI nanorods increases the interactions between the two pseudoactive materials. An asymmetric supercapacitor was fabricated by using PANI@MnO₂@m-CC as the positive electrode and activated microwave exfoliated graphite oxide (‘a-MEGO’)@m-CC as the negative electrode. The asymmetric supercapacitor showed a maximum energy density of 33.9 W h kg⁻¹ (at a power density of 319.0 W kg⁻¹) and power density of 17.2 kW kg⁻¹ (at an energy density of 14.3 W h kg⁻¹) at an operating voltage of 2.0 V, suggesting PANI@MnO₂@m-CC is a promising electrode candidate for supercapacitors.